Scan barcode
corsetedfeminist's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book ruined me.
I don't even know how to write a review of this book. Y'all just need to all go read it so we can sit around together with shattered hearts.
This story takes place in a far too recognizable future
America in which imprisoned people have been forced into televised gladiatorial combat to the death.
It is so realistic that the author studs the text with agonizing footnotes showing the facts he based his book on- the statute on torture. Real accounts of murdered Black people. The statute on the use of tear gas. The statistics on transgender people in prison.
All of the characters in this book are in depth to an endearing but painful level, but the characters who I came to love the most are definitely Thurwar and Staxxx- both black queer women. Thurwar, the strong but broken leader and Staxxx, who hides a soft heart beneath the tattooed X's marking every kill on her skin. Their romance is heartrending soft and healthy despite the circumstances and their tenderness with each other despite the harshness the world has shown to them broke my heart every chapter.
I also want to mention a somewhat minor POV character, Emily, who we watch over the course of the book as her boyfriend's love of watching the matches breaks her down from a general distaste to a careless disregard for life coupled while simultaneously being upset when Links die-but not so much as to let it keep her from enjoying watching future matches or getting distracted with her boyfriend.
In short- this should be a required read for everyone. It is a truly brilliant take down of the prison system, racism, and the police while humanizing the Black and Brown people that those systems teach us to fear.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
virtualdragonkitty's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A really interesting story commenting on the American prison system
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder
crusoe's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Chain-gang all-stars isn't a subtle commentary, but damn it, this is America and the train for subtlety passed ages ago. It is nuanced enough and although it takes a strong stance against incarceration, it doesn't shy away from the hurt that comes with that viewpoint.
Focusing on so many characters at once, unfortunately, does fragment the story significantly even if it's necessary to show all sides of the debate. The issue is that not all parts are equally strong.
The idea to put both real world statistics and character background information in the footnotes of the story was a brilliant find and more stories should include experimental aspects in their format like this that can enhance the story. Not only does it ground the fictional story in reality but because the format for fictional characters is the same as the factual information, your brain associates the fictional characters and their stories with reality. It raises the stakes and makes the story more real.
Focusing on so many characters at once, unfortunately, does fragment the story significantly even if it's necessary to show all sides of the debate. The issue is that not all parts are equally strong.
The idea to put both real world statistics and character background information in the footnotes of the story was a brilliant find and more stories should include experimental aspects in their format like this that can enhance the story. Not only does it ground the fictional story in reality but because the format for fictional characters is the same as the factual information, your brain associates the fictional characters and their stories with reality. It raises the stakes and makes the story more real.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Sexual harassment
trapdorr's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I think I went in with too high of expectations. It’s an amazing premise and i thoroughly enjoyed the facts/statistics of our reality sprinkled into this not so unrealistic dystopia. However, the switching perspectives/storylines and timeline jumps pulled me out of the story and made it less enjoyable. I think maybe if I read the physical version it might have been a 4 star read. However I do think this is a concept/book I’ll think about in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual assault and Murder
fleur____'s review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
elho's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Minor: Suicide
raichoreads's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Holy cow this was an emotional read. The earnest emotionality that came through this story and these characters was so intense for so much of this book. The strong abolitionist thread that included emphasis on forgiveness and empathy and the necessity of change brought me to tears a couple of times. I particularly appreciated the way that the author implicates the reader in being a consumer of Chain-Gang All-Stars, just like the society that we theoretically would condemn. It evoked a lot of self reflection for me and has me talking about this book with anyone who will listen. I loved the simultaneous resolution and also lack thereof.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Torture, and Murder
Moderate: Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Blood, and Sexual harassment
rorikae's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"Chain-Gang All-Stars" by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is a thoughtful look at the United States carceral system through a near-future sci-fi lens.
In the future, the carceral system has been turned into a reality show. Prisoners can choose to fight against one another to the death with the promise of freedom if they can survive for three years. The story focuses on two Black women who choose to fight, Hurricane Staxxx and Loretta Thurwar, who also happen to be in love with one another. As Thurwar looks to the near future and her potential freedom, the system will find new and increasingly brutal ways to pit the women against each other.
Adjei-Brenyah has crafted a horrifying world that feels eerily close to our own. Two of the biggest highlights of this story are the characters and the world-building. The characters feel like real people with all of the complications and messiness that makes humans humans. Many of the characters we follow are murderers and yet, Adjei-Brenyah does an excellent job of humanizing them and making their past transgressions feel like it is in the past. We are provided the opportunity to see firsthand how these characters have grown and changed. I also really appreciated how he weaves true facts about our current prison system with the near-future world. They added to and continued to build the existing world.
I did run into a bit of an issue with the way the narrative was told. We swoop in and out of a number of different characters' lives. Some we spend a good deal of time with while others are only seen for a single chapter. Though I appreciate how this built out the world and allowed us to see how the horror of death matches have become common place, I found the one-off characters could be a bit confusing and take away from the larger narrative of our main characters. Even so, I think this is a fantastic debut and I cannot wait to see what Adjei-Brenyah writes next. I am sure it will have great characters and biting commentary told through a fascinating world.
In the future, the carceral system has been turned into a reality show. Prisoners can choose to fight against one another to the death with the promise of freedom if they can survive for three years. The story focuses on two Black women who choose to fight, Hurricane Staxxx and Loretta Thurwar, who also happen to be in love with one another. As Thurwar looks to the near future and her potential freedom, the system will find new and increasingly brutal ways to pit the women against each other.
Adjei-Brenyah has crafted a horrifying world that feels eerily close to our own. Two of the biggest highlights of this story are the characters and the world-building. The characters feel like real people with all of the complications and messiness that makes humans humans. Many of the characters we follow are murderers and yet, Adjei-Brenyah does an excellent job of humanizing them and making their past transgressions feel like it is in the past. We are provided the opportunity to see firsthand how these characters have grown and changed. I also really appreciated how he weaves true facts about our current prison system with the near-future world. They added to and continued to build the existing world.
I did run into a bit of an issue with the way the narrative was told. We swoop in and out of a number of different characters' lives. Some we spend a good deal of time with while others are only seen for a single chapter. Though I appreciate how this built out the world and allowed us to see how the horror of death matches have become common place, I found the one-off characters could be a bit confusing and take away from the larger narrative of our main characters. Even so, I think this is a fantastic debut and I cannot wait to see what Adjei-Brenyah writes next. I am sure it will have great characters and biting commentary told through a fascinating world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Racial slurs and Rape
kb123thatsme's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Self harm
richy_qu33r_readzz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
A brutal read. Emotional damage guaranteed so practice self-care. This book is the hunger games, but closer to our current reality, in the prison system. This book is about pain, death, and the spectacle of it in traumaporn. It’s about slavery and the injustice system, about media consumption and brand sponsorship. It’s about how we’re all complicit in a system of death. And yet it’s just different enough that we can view it as fiction, as a what to avoid. But much like 1984, it could also be used by the corrupted powers that be as a how-to. Chilling shit. A unique writing style with many points of view and a creative take on grammar. Some passages have to be read aloud to understand them if you’re not familiar with the vernacular of those characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Classism